35 comments:

I lost my two fron teeth on a slide that consisted of two pipes. You would put your amrs ove th epipes and slide down. unfortuantely, when my feet caught, my face was driven into the ground. I don't think they gave a lot of thought to the design. I graduated from Lemoyne in 1963 and went to Lane Tech High School

fairy. didn't know i would get a response. i thought this was just for post. anyways. I was refering to when i went there. i have heard the schools mellowed out now. .

When i went there in the 1970s the school was insane. Maybe it was more the times then the school. just seemed like there were to many problem children in the school. the teachers didn't seem to have any control, and one teacher her seem seemed out of control. she use to hit the kids with a ruler. her name was miss Thomas, and you could here her screaming all the way down the hall everyday like a mad woman at the kids. I thank god i wasn't in her class. My brother and sister were, and my brother came home with a bruise from where she had hit him with the ruler.ym mother called the police. the principal took the teachers side and the teacher denied it, and the vice principal named mr. conway says. Why would she break a ruler over his arm? anyways after the teacher denied it the other students heard her lie, and said. Oh yes she did hit him, and the broken ruler is in the windowsil. Sure enough they looked and there was the broken ruler.

anyways the school was so bad , and i could had been a much better student , if i hadn't to deal with all the anarchy everyday. Not to say i was perfect. There were many things that the teachers kept hid like the ruler incident that shouldn't have been. anyways I suppose it was and is probably the school system in general ,and the same kind of problems still exist in school today> My daughter went to a syurban school in Berwyn, and things aren't sounding much better now days with the school syetem from what she tells me when she went there . Anyways i suppose it's mnot a single school, but it seemed that way at the time because it was in my neighbood. i libe one block from stewart school, right on sheridan off windsor street at the time. Now there's a mini mall section where i lived there. Anyways i must admit the teachers were very good teachers most of them except miss Thomas , And there was a very serious discipline problem in the school effecting the others kids learning who wanted to learn. a lack of discipline is one thing but the abuse of the ruler was another.. oh well. that was decades ago. wouldn't mind meeting some of them now. later. Frank

anonymous here. or frank. My last response seems to give the teachers all a bad rap. I just wanted to clear my post up a little on the school. most of the problems i had were with my fellow students. i can't tell you the some of the unbeleivable things i seen in school. We were walking up the stairs when school just opened , and this one boy i wont name here, but who always had problems fighting grabbed under this others girls dress as she was going up the stairs,I wont name her either. We were only in the 3rd grsde, so where he got this idea i have no clue. But i felt overwhelmed with unbelief when i seen it, and the the whole school years just seemed to be kids picking on other kids.

I did my fair share of problems , but i was more picked on then i was a bully. My brothes and sisters went to this school at the same time as we were close in age.Anyways My sister said a friend of hers told her that she didn't know why kids bullied other kids till she tried it herself, and found out it was fun.heh!

Anyways The neighborhood was poorat the time with southern whites on wilson and spanish and black and white to the east of broadway. Teachers had a lot to deal with. Just seemed to me though anytime you complained they never listened. I remember when i was chosen to work in the library , as one kid was prividged to do so every day or week one of them. Anyways these 2 kids were lauging at me, and pointing. I went over to him and punched him in the face. yes i did. So makes me no better then the other kids. Anyways he cried and got up and was going to kill me.lol he was bigger, and could have done so easily. Anyways the librarian finally realized what happen, and instead of reporting it, she was quiet about it, and sent me back to class losing my prividge of being librarian helper.I think i should have been reported and the kids mother and my mother should have both been told what happened, so that's why i say things didn't get reported in my last response. I think back and wonder what if i had been the one hit, instead of him. Then i would have been the victim and he would have got away with it. . So i shouldn't have got awat with it.I would apologize to the kid if i knew him todayMy younger brother who said was hit with the ruler earlier in my last Post He bit a teacher once, so not like he was perfect either.

I remember a kid named scott comes out of the bathroom and tells me if Black is beatiful i just layed a masterpiece. I remember buying cookies at lunch. They were a nickle each.I ate one, and was taking 2 extras to class. I was happy with my cookies, Till another kid in lines comes over and knocks them out of my hand. I got out of line to tell the teacher , and she just yells at me 'Get Back in line! Wouldn't even listen.

I remember one kid for a while was harassing me everyday following me home , and knocked me to the groundusing my back as a punching bag, I jumped up and ran home.

Anyways these are some the kind of experiences i had experienced at Stewart schhol back then. As you see the students and some of my family as well caused some problems there also me, and the teachers way to deal with some things , not all of them was to cover them up, for the reputation of the school i think so they didn't seem to be unable to cope with the situations. MAybe they were overwhelmed because it was everywhere, but the teachers i had were almost all good qualified teachers.I can't really say they ever did me wrong, and Miss Thomas was never my teacher fortunately for me.I have hundreds of stories like this which are probably typical stories in most schools yesterday and today, but it's not a perfect world, and childhood is full of changes. Thanx for the space to rememeber my schoold days. Was no charie brown picnic, but true life for me. good and bad. Hope this clears my previous post up some. i had good teachers, And the times they turned on the tv to let us watch electric company, at school because it was educational was nice. With all that teachers have to deal with they definitely are underpaid, And if it was up to me they would get more money , and deserve recognition in my view as having the most important job in a kids life of teaching children to learn. My post is way to know so anything i have to say i'll keep quiet about. Frank

We lived on sheridan right off winsor . We use to go my brothers and sister to the UPTOWN theatre or the Riviera at the time like once a week for under a dollar. They both showed cheap movies back then. We'd go to church at the north shore church , now called uptown baptist, on wilson and sheridan once a week. lots of times we'd just play outside, for neighborood kids just did that back then. kids are always looking to get into something. Our mother kept us indoors often protective.didn't want us getting into trouble.

Going to the arcade at pops arcade, probably primitive to days arcades standards , but they had pinball, and gunfight, more like carnival games was somthing kids did . Going to stewart school and play on the swings and things, and jumping off to see how far we could get.

My friend james who was very bright had a collection of comic books 5 feet high. He and his brother were big star trek fans, and watched it everyday.. The original starTrek that is. The next generation didn't exist.He use to loan me comics. I bet they are valuable now if he still has then 35 years later.

Coming home from school and watching tv was ususally the first things kids did. cartoons, kids shows ect. to keep us entertained, because quality tv didn't require cable subscription, but you did have to endure the commercials.cable tv didn't exist, or computer for the household. personally i think kids seem somewhat smarter with the computers today, but somehow doesn't seem like they have as much to me as before them. Anyways uptown was and is a diverse area, and it's an area that's always changing with imigration . Many people move there, and later move out. I have lived in uptown since 1981 , and then for 2 years in 1985 and 1986 on kenmore and montrose. Me and my whole family. I will always consider uptown my roots no matter what changes it brings the memories are what we take with us.By the way this is a great uptown sight and history of uptown.

One important person who needs recognition is Romla Remis Dunlap. She lived right on sheridan past winsor for years. She was the first Lady To play dorthy in the first Wizard of oz the silent version by frank braun.

Anyway when uptown was like hollywood way back then she was probaly it's last legacy She died in the 1980s, She was a piano teacher and christian scientist . You can find her on the net.I better go. I spoke a mouthful.wish we could all go back. Frank

one correction and my last post. In my post last i said i have lived in uptown sinsce 1981, But i mean't to say I haven't lived in upside since 1981 except for 2 years in 1985 and 1986 on kenmore when they made the Chuck Norris movie Code of Silence.Right in out back yard they made the movie. Neither me or my family have lived in uptowmn since except my father whom has drank his life away there in the streets since the 1970s. bye now. FRAnk

sorry just one name to clear up. Look up Romola Remis Dunlap, not Romla remis dunlap to find the first Dorthy. in the Original Wizard of OZ by Frank Bram. Was a nice lady.lived one block from us and a friend of my fathers.The end

no problem. Plenty of post on her. just enter Romola Remus not remis my mistake. I seen her online also online on th site the whimsical world of oZ videos part 2. . She use to give my brother piano lessons in the 70s.You can see her there talkin All this had really made me reflect back was a good thing. Brought back my past. Thanx

Hello .Haven't looked on these post in a while.Man i really posted a lot. I quess i really felt motivated, and had something to say on my past in Uptown. From looking through all your other posters I see everyone has their own experiences of Uptown from the generation they grew up in . My generation growing up there just happened to be the late sixties and 70s.

My father moved to Uptown from Peuto Rico In the mid 1950s and my mother moved there in like 1961. She came from kentucky. My father worked in a Theatre Called the Deluxe Theatre On wilson Right off broadway.About where Truman college is now. Very few people even know it ever existed now days, just like few know of Riverview Amusement park now days.

Anyways fairy You got Uptown in your blood.Glad to see someone has rememered it as much as your site has done.Outsideres can read about it, but it's nice to read about it from those who were there. Well its late , and I just thought I'd add a little info to my past post, and add a little about my parents. They had a whole life in Uptown

The only way people will ever know about it is from others like here. Anyways for the record my name is Frank.I was proud to share some of my stories about Stewart school and growing up in Uptown, though I've Grown up now. My daughters the young one now at 22 and I'm middleaged.lol. I was a teen back then. Ohh it really freaked me out when i was looking up My old Scool Stewart online to see Harrison Ford Once went there. Also One of the guys who helped make the exorcist went there. From my experiences with the school I'm not surprized about the exorcist guy attending there lol Good night .Frank Formely known as under Anonymous

I too went to Stewart school for 6th and 8th grades . Graduated in 1965.I understand uptown is very different now. Very yuppy. Where did all the poor people go?? We lived on junior terrace between marine drive and clarendon. The area around wilson ave kenmore lawrence were pretty rough areas. You had your very pooron wilson ave, Kenmore, Lawrence. Then once you got south to montrose and to the east side of clarendon the whole neighborhood changed. A much better educated and wealthier neighborhood You had marine drive that then changed to Lake shore drive.Imperial towers was one of the 1st plush highrises in that area. My sister who is 4 yrs yonger than me went to brenneman school & then the disney school. Living in that area during those times had a very big impact on how I saw people and see them now 40+ yrs later. I saw how poor didn't mean you didn't have New clothes and fancy toys. It ment you had closed shoes not flip flops, a warm coat not a sweater and clean clothes that were in good repair. The have nots were the kids on wilson and kenmore.Even though we were not quite middle class, compared to them we felt well off. I will never forget that area and how little some of those people had. That did not stop them from getting beyond that and making something of their lives.

Thanks Anonymous and Fairy. Anonymous asked where all the poor people in uptown went. LOts of them got pushed out of uptown through jentrification. Where Truman colledge was built they had torn down many apartment building that housed poor southern white in order to build the college. Progress comes with a price.

Also In the 1980s many buildings stopped renting to families with teen agers due to gangs whether they were in gangs or not. We moved out of uptown for this reason. You are right anonymous We were poor,but povery doesn't have to last if you work. Uptown Was on the downlow since the 1950s I guess when all the middle people started moving to the suburbs for a better life, and the Then for some reason the gentrification thing started , and the newer younger middle class had decided that uptown is the better life with the lake shore view, and the nightlife , so uptown is getting like it was when it was like hollywood in the beginning of the charlie chaplin years.

IT's been going on since the 1970s the battle with the heart of Uptown coalition and the rehabbing of UPtown. Helen shiller the alderman was the founder of the Hreart of Uptown Coaltion. Anyways I live west of uptown Now for th last 10 years And I rarely recognize anyone there anymore except fo the buildings. I think possibly the only few people living in Uptown now that were there in the 1970s are a few african Americans. Most of the southern whites and spanish back then moved. Marine Drive was always a good area.Glad you had a good life there. I went to Breneman school for 2 weeks my first school before they transferred me to Stewart school.I cried for a week I wanted to go home. Maybe that's why they Transferred me to Stewart.

I went to Graeme Stewart School from 1950-1952, 1st-3rd grade. The last time I stopped by the school was 2008 when they had the street torn up. The building looks pretty much the same. I would love to see if I could get in touch with some of the kids I went to school with. That would be wonderful. I have many fond memories of the Uptown area. I lived on Lawrence, Leland and Sheridan Road. I believe my mom had an apartment of Argile and Sunnyside when I was a baby. The last place my grandma lived was on Kenmore across from St. Thomas of Cantebury Church where my sister and I were baptised. Her building was demolished and replaced with the Salvation Army Building. My grandma lived there until 1964. I remember going to the Lakeside Theatre, the Pantheon Theatre, the Riviera and Uptown Theatre. I even saw Mary Hartline on Sheridan Road, shopping. Sheridan Road and Broadway were such nice shopping areas. It is a shame that all changed for the worse. And of course, the Aragon. I remember seeing the signs out front when Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey were playing there and I was just a kid. Also, it was so cool to see the people going there for shows all dressed up in their fancy attire. I remember getting my Bonnie Braids doll at Ford Hopkins on Wilson and Sheridan across from the church which my girlfriend Ingrid lived in because her father was the person who cleaned and took care of the church. I also remember going to the People's Church on Lawrence of which I lived down the street from, bobbing for apples on Halloween. I actually walked down the street at night at age 5 or 6 and didn't have to be afraid. I remember eating ice cream sundaes at Walgreens on Lawrence and Sheridan and eating hot corned beef sandwiches at Happy Jack's across the street from Walgreen's. Anyone remember Thompson's Cafeteria on Wilson and Broadway, I believe. I would spend my 12 cents that my mom gave me for lunch there on jello before school. I remember the Kresge's on Sheridan where I got caught stealing playing cards. They were real nice there though. They didn't stop me but waited until my mom and I were shopping together and they pulled my mom aside when I was in the bathroom. Boy did I get it when I got home from my dad. I learned to roller skate in a gangway on Sunnyside with one skate, then two.I have so many happy memories of going to the Jewish Deli on Lawrence before the El Station. I would buy smoked fish and kosher pickles for my grandma and we would eat them together after she took all the bones out for me. So many good memories. As I say my grandma's building is gone and so is the building I lived in on Leland off of Sheridan which was either owned or run by the aunt of Bill Hayes (who is on Days of our Lives). I remember her asking me if I knew of him and that he was her nephew. I was 8 at the time. The memories will always remain unless Alzheimers takes them away.

I hope this brings back some good memories for anyone who might read this.Cheryl P---

I forgot to mention. I remember a lady teacher, Miss Goulet - like Robert Goulet. I'm not sure of the spelling. I remember her taking us to the Lincoln Park Zoo and buying us popsicles. Lincoln Park Zoo is still my favorite zoo and my husband and I are members. I took my kids there when they were young and now take my great and great great nieces.

I also have a memory of being asked to go to a classroom with an other girl for some reason, I think to clean up and instead made one of the biggest messes ever. Does anyone remember powdered paints in black and whatever color was in the container. Well, I went to take the lid off and it spilled all over the floor. There I was trying to clean it up with wet rags. The mess kept getting bigger and bigger. Funny the silly things you hang onto. Also, does anyone remember having the dentist come to school and check your teeth? They would even fix them. Well, my sister was being checked when she decided to run out of the room and I had to chase her up a couple of flights of stairs. She never did get back in the chair.

Teachers and lost friends from Graeme Stewart Sun, 02/20/2011 — Randy Senor Hello, I had Mrs. Stick in 2nd grade. She was not a nice teacher at all. I had Mrs. Monty in 3rd she was a better and nicer teacher. I remember Mrs. Brenbaum as my kindergarten teacher. We did not see much of her as she went on maternity leave. I do not remember whom I had for 1st grade? For some reason that year is a blur? I am looking for anyone who would have started kindergarten in 64-65 at Graeme Stewart and would have went thru 5th grade. I remember Mr. Conway vice principle but not the principle she was a woman in the late 60s. The truant officer looked like granny from the Beverly Hillbillies and played harmonica Mr. Conway played the fiddle. The gym teacher looked like uncle Fester on the Adams Family (his name was something like Pascalia). I hated gym class he was a mean teacher. Does anyone out there remember the good conduct cards my class came in second one year? I think that was in Mrs. Montys class.

I had two classmates I would like to find Kenny May who moved to Kentucky around 69 and Earl Shaffel who was in several of my classes. Earl was about 6ft tall when we were in the 5th grade. Earl lived down by the Uptown Theater.

I have really enjoyed reading these posts. For me Stewart brings back fond memories. Perhaps this is because I choose only to focus on the good things. I started kindergarten in 1965 and went till the 7th grade. I had Miss Igleman and Miss Booth, I want to say room 102. Had Miss Hecht 1st grade (room 105?), Stick in 2nd grade (104?), really guessing at these room numbers. Miss Thomas for 5th grade (209?), and yes, she used to rubber band a stack of rulers to hit the palm of your hand or make you hold books with your arms straight out to your sides. I had Miss Manos for 6th grade. But I’m really at a loss for my 3rd and 4th and 7th grade teacher’s names.

I live right across the street on Sunnyside so it was an easy walk. The telephone company was still that before it became the Salvation Army. I’m not sure what it is now. I used to get into fights, play tag, pinner and had friends back then who I would love to meet again. We used to go to the candy store on Sheridan when we had pocket change. And I remember that the Carnival would set up on Kenmore and the fire department would open a hydrant in the summer and spray in the girl’s yard during summer vacation. Boy, those were fun times for me.

My one complaint is that when you left that school is that you were way undereducated. And I thought Miss Manos lacked teaching skills.

i enjoyed reading all the posts about the uptown area. i also went to stewart school and then on to stockton when it was a junior high/middle school. i was one of the first girls to get to attent lane tech but we moved to indiana before i graduated. there were so many things i missed when we moved like the uptown theater and goldblatts store and gigio's pizza. i missed the diversity that i grew up with, living on sheridan road for 16 years. i have only returned twice. i was surprised to see the buena memorial presbyterian church torn down. i went to that church my whole childhood!! Thanks for so many memories though! it made me smile!!

+Just found this site. in 57. 58 I attended a school on Montrose. I kind of remember the name being Stewart Branch School.does any here remember it? I also remember a huge pumping station where the tennis courts are now on MontroseLooking for any old pictures of this area . I lived at 927 W Wilson

+Just found this site. in 57. 58 I attended a school on Montrose. I kind of remember the name being Stewart Branch School.does any here remember it? I also remember a huge pumping station where the tennis courts are now on MontroseLooking for any old pictures of this area . I lived at 927 W Wilson

urybcoI remember Thompson's Cafeteria, but I believe it was at Wilson and Clifton, next to the Delux theater. I lived at 4622 N Clifton from 1949 to spring 1960. I remember a cold January night when a big fire broke out at the factory next door, we had to evac the apartment( single room for single men), I was the only kid in the building and there was only a few woman living there, at $7/week rent, anyway back to that cold night in January 1960, we took refuge in Thompson's Cafeteria, after the fire was out, I went to school at Stockton that morning and fell asleep in school. I believe the warehouse across from where I lived was own by former mayor Kennelley. Anyone remember Hillman's on broadway, the wilson village chinese restaurant next to Wilson el stop. How about that tragic CTA/Northshore train crash at the wilson stop in the late 1950's. Where the current Audi and Target store, there was a wooden roller rink, which caught fire in winter, famous picture was a car frozrn solid in ice. there is a lot of history there, would take a book to list it all. Jerry

Judy (Day) McClendonI lived at 944 W Leland Ave in 1956 and went to school at stewart, I remember going to the lunch room and it looked so big to me , I was just 5 yrs old and scared to death . I ate my lunch outside the door and then I walked home by myself, talk about getting a whipping boy did I ever. They have torn the old boarding house/hotel down where we lived. My friend got Me and my sister in trouble she said our mom said we could go to Krogers with her, we went and they were giving away gold fish so when we got home and mom found out where we had gone we were in Big trouble. I went back in 2011 to the school and the teacher let me go see Room 102 and the lunch room, I made pictures and it was really cool. Things change in 55 yrs though.

I went to Stewart from 1943 to 1951, kindergarten to 8th grade,graduated and went to Senn for high school, graduated and went to U of Chicago for 8 more years, ending up a lawyer. We lived a mile away, Broadway and Buena, and what a walk in below zero weather, to school...I still am in touch with two friends with whom I went to Stewart, it's been a long strange trip indeed. Overall, I am grateful and happy to have been a Chicagoan and a Stewart stalwart.

Understand that the downtown guys have decided to close Stewart School; my sense is they have no clue as to how this decision will impact on the kids and the community, but then I graduated in 1947. The community may have changed since then but not its needs which apparently our Mayor and the Board cannot understand or appreciate.

What I remember about Graeme Stewart was the dedication of the Pricipal, Mary M. Sullivan and the teacher that I remember, Burns, Jenks, and Wedding, from 1st thru 8th grade who blended a true elementary education with discipline which I may not have appreciated at the time, but in reterospect provided the foundation for all my education that was to follow and for whch I am truly grateful.

After Stewart and four years at Senn, I was lucky enough to go to MIT, and into a family business, a machine shop started by my grandfather in 1923 and still in existance 90 years later in 2013.

Soon to be 80, I'm working for the same company -- chalk it up to good luck, good genes, a wonderful wife, and, I'm sure, the basic education that came from Graeme Stewart.

If there are any of you out there from the class of 1947 and are interested, give me a call at 773 248 2115 and lets see what has changed in the last 66 years.

Gerson Ecker2400 Lakeview, #3006 Chicago, IL 60614.June 01, 2013

P.S.: I would like to visit Stewart School in the next week or so and before the doors are closed and locked to those of us who remember and appreciate. Perhaps some of you would like to tag along.

Just moved back to Chicago. I grew up in Uptown on Clifton and Wilson. Had to move when they tore down all those buildings for Truman College. I went to Stewart from 1964-1969, then Stockton for junior high. Would love to visit Stewart again. Had thought about it since I got back, so please let me know if you really do go. Would really like to go along. You can reach me at: laurelcrandell@yahoo.com.

I have so many memories of growing -up in Uptown..my Parents were one of many Appalachian families who moved north..we arrived in 1957..I was three..my sister nine..my brother just a few months old..both my parents worked in factories..we first lived on Windsor and sheridan..then hazel and sunnyside..my parents moved out of the neighborhood in 1973 after my mother was robbed of her Christmas bonus..I attended Stewart from 1960/1966 then Stockton 1966!/1968..then senn ..I also had Mrs. Stick in the second grade..thought she was mean too..had Mrs. Karras in 6th grade..loved her..remember Mr. Conway .got hit with a snowball one winter in the playground by a boy between the eyes and knocked out cold..Mr. Conway carried me to his office till I came too..remember looking out the back of the girl's playground by the fence and watching them carry bodies in the back door of Macready's funeral home....loved going to the uptown on the week-end for their double feature..then the aragon when I was older..saw Stevie wonder..the shirelles..Gary puckett and the union gap..a few more..remember going to cricket hill ..and riding my bike in the summer..ice skating at Clarendon park in the winter..and who can forget Johnny red hot 's across from Stewart? Best hot dogs ever?or gigio's pizza on Broadway? I could go on and on but will cease for now..I leftl Chicago in the 70's..came back to visit in 2005..sure had changed..

I went to Stewart for kindergarten and first grade. Miss Hannah for kindergarten and Miss Snow for first.So that's 1957-58?It was crazy there.Kids getting cut up with razors, fights daily. I guess I was lucky to be so young and naive. I've been reluctant to relay some of my childhood experiences to my boys. I don't have bail.When the school board redefined districts, I was transfered to Goudy. Almost as crazy, it was still Uptown.Graduated from there and went on to Lane Tech, like all good Japanese boys were to go.

My family moved to Uptown in 1958. We lived on Broadway right across from the roller rink that burnt down and was later replaced by a gas station. My mom and dad lived there until 1999 when they finally sold their building and moved back to Chinatown. I had a paper route delivering the afternoon paper. My route was Montrose and Sunnyside and Hazel. I remember stopping off at Jake's hamburger place called Puf N Ruf to buy a burger now and then.

We were one of the few Chinese family living in Uptown at that time. My twin brother and I graduated from Stewart School in 1964 and we both attended Lane tech and later the U of I at Urbana.

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